Rural Studio's $20K House has such innovative design that it's changing the entire housing systemfrom mortgages to zoning laws.

"When was the last time you were driving down the street by an affordable housing project and you thought, 'Boy, I really wish I lived in one of those for myself,'" Smith says. "The goal of 20K House is really to design a house that's affordable, that anybody could have—and that anybody would want."

"If you thought the tiny house movement was just a fad, think again. 84 Lumber, a major national retailer of building materials and services, just launched a series of tiny houses, available in flexible packages targeting anyone who might be interested in this lifestyle."

This Teen Has A Simple Idea To Tackle 2 Of Detroit's Biggest Problems

"Isabel Ivanescu is a high school senior with a simple idea to achieve an ambitious goal: She wants to end homelessness in Detroit by renovating abandoned houses... Detroit has started an ambitious initiative to demolish blighted buildings, but there are still about 30,000 abandoned houses throughout the city."

Utah Works To End Homelessness With Housing First Initiative

"Utah set the ambitious goal to end homelessness in 2015. As the decade-long plan initiated by then-Gov. Jon Huntsman wraps up this year, the Beehive State’s “Housing First” program has already reduced chronic homelessness (those with deeper disabling conditions, like substance abuse or schizophrenia, who had been on the streets for a year or longer or four times within three years) by 72 percent and is on track to end it altogether by this time next year."

Overwhelmed by overdoses, clinic offers a room for highs

"The number one cause of death among Boston’s homeless? Opioid use. Overdoses are such a common occurrence that they disrupt workers’ daily tasks at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program. In response, the organization is making a drastic, controversial move: opening a room where addicts can come down from their highs while under medical supervision. Some claim that it’s a plan that will simply enable users; others, including the Boston Public Health Commission and the Massachusetts Society of Addiction Medicine, believe it’s an effective way to get the drug pandemic under control and reduce the number of fatalities."

An Albuquerque program pays panhandlers to clean up city trash—and gets them needed help.

"Two mornings a week, the van driver for St. Martin’s Hospitality Center drives to common panhandling corners, where he picks up as many as 12 homeless residents who say they are willing to work for the day. He takes them to an area of the city identified by the city’s Solid Waste Department, where they get $9 an hour—25 cents more than minimum wage—to clear brush, or pick up trash for five-and-a-half hours."

Workers get lunch, dinner, referrals to a shelter, and access to the St. Martin's various homeless services—behavioral health, job search, housing, dental and medical.